her.
As she realised she wasn’t going to make it.
She grunted, air exploding from her lungs as she hit the wall almost ten feet below the plateau. Her fingers burned as she scrabbled for purchase and pain blazed up her right arm as she managed to grab a small crack in the rock and the weight of her body yanked on her shoulder.
Wind buffeted her as Thanatos flew to her and she screamed again as he reached for her.
“No!” She twisted and grimaced as her shoulder ached, wanted to swat at him to keep him away from her, but focused instead on finding somewhere to hold on to with her other hand to stop herself from falling.
He beat his huge black wings, holding steady in the air just behind her, no doubt giving her that look.
And then he grabbed her by her waist and hauled her up, his wings beating the air as he lifted her.
“No!” She tried to jerk free of his grip, gave up when she realised it was too late to save him even if she did break free of him.
He had touched her.
Sorrow welled inside her, had her gaze falling to his strong hands where they gripped her bare waist, his arms as he banded them around her and held her close to him, her back pressed to his front as he flew with her.
What had he done?
Any moment now, darkness would mar his skin, and it would turn to ashes before her eyes.
He carried her over the flat land and gently set down with her.
Any moment now.
He released her and stepped back. “I could not let you fall.”
“And you damned yourself because of it.” She pivoted to face him, grief and horror combining to make her words come out hard and desperate, together with fear of what she would see.
By now, the darkness would be blooming on his arms, his hands, possibly even his chest since he had pressed it against her.
She stilled. Only there was no darkness. Not even a trace of black skin on him anywhere.
She felt empty inside as she stared at him, as she waited, sure that it was only taking longer to manifest, that he would succumb to her power soon, unable to dare to hope that he was somehow immune to it.
“Damned myself?” Thanatos looked himself over, his black eyebrows meeting hard, and then lifted his head and settled his gaze on her. “I am sorry I touched you. The alternative was unacceptable to me though. I will not do it again.”
She was too busy staring at his body to take in what he was saying, waiting for that terrible black stain to appear and his skin to char.
Waiting.
“Is something wrong with me?” He looked himself over again, silver eyes holding a confused edge.
“No,” she breathed and frowned, shook her head as she marvelled at that. “It should… When I touched the guard… his skin… it…”
She almost fell to her knees as her breath leaked from her, as it finally sank in that she had touched Thanatos but she hadn’t harmed him.
“Calindria, you are not making any sense.”
She knew that, was deeply aware of it as well as his gaze as she closed the gap between them, needing to be sure. His gaze tracked her, his frown returning as she reached for his hand. Her fingers shook, fear rising to attempt to overwhelm and stop her, but she pushed onwards, gathering her courage along the way.
When her fingers brushed his, a shiver chased up her arm, and Thanatos tensed, as if he had felt it too.
“What is this all about?” He snatched his hand back, flexed his fingers into a fist, and she had the feeling he was stopping her from touching him again.
She raised her eyes to his, her sense of wonder swift to fade a little when blue fire glared back at her, the sculpted planes of his face set in hard, harsh lines. She had the feeling the look he was giving her wasn’t because he wanted answers. It was because she had touched him.
This time, he was the one who backed off, placing more distance between them as he growled at her. “Tell me.”
She straightened her spine, erecting a wall around herself again, one she hoped was as thick and impenetrable as the one that surrounded him. It didn’t stop the hurt from lashing at her as she lined up the words, forced to remember what she had done.
“I touched the guard and… darkness… or something